Luddy Strategic Plan 2024-2030

Luddy by the numbers

Bloomington

Faculty: 157
Staff: 111
Students: 3,813

Indianapolis

Faculty: 50
Staff: 58
Students: 1,951

Combined Total

Faculty: 207
Staff: 169
Students: 5,764

Together, these numbers represent a dynamic force of academic excellence, innovation, and growth.

History of the Luddy School

Founded in 2000, the Luddy School is a pioneer in integrating computing, social science, and engineering. As a multi-campus institution with campuses in Bloomington and Indianapolis, Luddy is committed to providing world-class education and conducting cutting-edge research across multiple disciplines.

With the dissolution of IUPUI and the university’s ambitious plans to double research funding, Luddy stands at the heart of exciting opportunities to expand its impact. We are dedicated to being a force for socially responsible technical innovation, equipping the next generation of leaders with the skills and knowledge to drive real-world change.

Image of Dean Joanna Mullunchick standing in front of Sample Gates wearing a blue blazer and a white t-shirt that says Indiana Hoosiers in red on it. She look to the right of the image towards the main text.

Dean’s Message

In a rapidly evolving world, Luddy is committed to harnessing the power of multidisciplinary research and education to address complex global issues. Our students, faculty, and staff collaborate to develop solutions that have lasting societal impact. As we look to the future, this strategic plan will guide us in continuing our journey as leaders in STEM education, innovation, and community engagement.

IU Trident LogoJoanna Millunchick
Dean and Professor of Intelligent Systems Engineering
Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering

What we stand for

Mission

To lead education and research in computing, information science, and technology to improve the well-being of humanity.

Vision

To be an unstoppable force for society-centered scientific and technological innovation.

Values
  • Society-centered technology
    We prioritize technology that serves humanity and addresses global challenges.
  • Thought leadership
    We aspire to lead through groundbreaking ideas and responsible innovation.
  • Excellence and integrity
    We maintain the highest standards in our work and uphold ethical principles.
  • Belongingness
    We cultivate an inclusive environment where all voices are valued.
  • Teamwork and transparency
    We believe in collaborative efforts and clear communication to drive collective success.
Two students work on the Amatrea sculpture.

Student success and opportunity

Luddy commits to setting the gold standard in teaching and learning. We embrace a culture of technical excellence and will continuously improve our teaching to meet the evolving needs of society. We will provide a diverse student population with opportunities to apply their knowledge to real-world challenges and ensure every student’s success is our success.

Transformative research and creativity

Luddy will pursue innovative and transformative research and creative activity as a crucial societal and economic outcome of academic excellence. We will draw upon and integrate the strengths of our unique array of socio-technical disciplines to propel societal goals.

Service to our state and beyond

Luddy will leverage its expertise and capabilities to serve communities across our state, improving the lives of Hoosiers, strengthening cultural and economic vitality, and pursuing innovation and knowledge that improve the human condition.

School culture and operations

Luddy will strengthen the ways we work and collaborate with one another, as well as the underlying systems and structures that support us, to ensure the conditions for our success.

Goals and Strategies

Set the standard in teaching and learning.
  • Drive continuous curricular improvements to ensure Luddy courses and programs are relevant and reflective of the most current research, practices, and societal needs.
  • Foster a culture of excellence in teaching through expanded professional development, recognition, and communities of practice.
  • Strengthen instructional delivery by increasing the use of scholarly teaching and evidence-based teaching practices within Luddy classrooms.
  • Establish equitable and evidence-based evaluation of instructional effectiveness and link to continuous improvement efforts.
A female student in a dark room is sitting at a deck in front of a keyboard and two monitors. She is adjusting a dial on a specialized computer board while looking at one of the monitors.
Recruit and prepare students to succeed and become leaders in their field.
  • Significantly grow Luddy’s student pipeline through enhanced marketing, outreach, and recruitment efforts.
  • Proactively address barriers to student access, participation, and success in Luddy programs including through the introduction of new on-ramps, offerings, and pedagogies.
  • Create and implement a signature Luddy student experience.
  • Expand opportunities for Luddy students to apply classroom learnings to real-world problems.
  • Improve systems and practices for tracking and promoting the success of all students.
Build and support a variety of perspectives within Luddy.
  • Build interest in Luddy programs and careers among students from different backgrounds through innovative partnerships and outreach efforts.
  • Strengthen recruitment and scholarship offerings to ensure a well-rounded student population.
  • Deepen student engagement and belonging within the Luddy community to  enhance student success, professional development, and long-term connection.

Goals and Strategies

Amplify Luddy's current areas of excellence with a prioritized focus on those that emphasize socio-technical advancement.
  • Build awareness for Luddy research programs and the accomplishments of faculty, staff, and students.
  • Recruit, foster, and retain outstanding research talent in support of Luddy priorities and IU’s Faculty 100 effort.
  • Diversify and grow extramural funding across all areas of excellence.
  • Encourage research and creative activity that yields disclosure and licensing of inventions, and expanded partnerships with industry, academic peers, and other key constituencies.
  • Deepen community-engaged research in direct collaboration with Hoosier communities.
A female students smiles for the camera as she poses with a robotic arm attachment on her right arm.
Invest in the development of new strategic growth areas.
  • Build out new areas of research focused on emerging areas of need, such as microelectronics, robotics, health, and medical engineering and informatics, artificial intelligence, information-based engineering, and society.
  • Recruit and develop outstanding research talent in new areas of strategic growth.
  • Establish a supportive growth environment, including funding and project management supports.
  • Develop mechanisms for identifying new areas in which to invest.
Strengthen the research support infrastructure to increase productivity and build cross-unit collaboration.
  • Align and strengthen administrative resources and processes.
  • Proactively address barriers that hinder productivity and collaboration.
  • Reward and recognize high performance in a variety of research and creative contexts.

Goals and Strategies

Serve as a thought leader in fostering technical excellence for societal impact.
  • Build recognition as the leading experts in socio-technical topics.
  • Scale the reach and impact of Luddy’s areas of excellence to positively impact our community.
Create opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to share their knowledge and expertise.
  • Expand opportunities for students to apply their knowledge and skills within a real-world context through Luddy ALIGN and other programs.
  • Support faculty and staff in bringing the world into the classroom and laboratory.
  • Advance efforts for faculty, staff and students to innovate, incubate, and accelerate small business enterprises and nonprofits.
Strengthen Indiana’s future P-12 STEM pipeline.
  • Serve as a leading partner to P-12 educators through support for high school pathways, continued leadership to supply P-12 educators, and support for advanced teacher-education programs.
  • Build streamlined opportunities at Luddy for talented graduates of our P-12 pipeline.
A student in a full, black body suit faces away from the camera. They are wearing a blue helmet that has wires coming from it and a large belt on their waist with battery packs and wires.

Goals and Strategies

Develop a signature Luddy culture.
  • Strengthen internal engagement efforts among faculty, staff, students, and alumni to build school pride, unity, respect, and belonging.
  • Enhance school-wide communication processes, ensuring faculty, staff, and students are empowered with the information and resources to be successful.
  • Establish formalized reward and recognition structures to reinforce Luddy culture and values.
  • Encourage integration across Luddy’s education, research, and service work.
A hallway at the Indianapolis campus with desks along one side and an assortment of students sitting at them doing work.
Promote a range of perspectives and continuous development.
  • Recruit, retain, and develop faculty and staff through fair and effective practices.
  • Ensure all perspectives are embraced in our community as essential to our school’s core values and guiding principles.
  • Establish formalized onboarding and professional development pathways to foster faculty and staff development and growth at all stages and ranks.
  • Institute incentives and rewards to encourage sustained contributions to our mission, leadership in our school and beyond, and embodiment of our values.
Strengthen internal systems and capabilities.
  • Enhance internal processes and operations to foster transparency and equity.
  • Improve data access and quality to support performance and continuous improvement.
  • Invest in resources such as core technology, operations systems, space, and personnel to support growth in research and teaching.

The time has never been better because the opportunity has never been greater.

Aerial view of IUB's Luddy Hall
aerial view of the IU Indy campus

Acknowledgement

We extend our deepest thanks to the many individuals—students, faculty, staff, alumni, and partners—whose insights and efforts contributed to the development of this plan. Special appreciation goes to our Steering Committee for their dedication to this critical process.